Much more powerful, but somehow smaller, than the Xbox One S released last year, the Xbox One X is a marvel of technology and engineering that provides the most technically impressive console gaming experience you can get, especially if you're running a 4K TV.

Returning to a free exploration style after years of more linear adventures, the latest Super Mario is a relentlessly joyful celebration of the entire series, but it also drags Mario towards the future with the most modern game design we've seen from the series yet.

Xbox Australia has this morning announced an unusual attraction to build awareness ahead of its major hardware launch next month: a pop-up set of suites in the city where fans can spend a night with the new machine.

Like its 2014 predecessor, The Fractured But Whole is a game with astonishingly high production values, perfectly matching the quality of the TV show's writing, performances and knack for politically incorrect social commentary.

Looking and sounding like a coloured Fleischer animation from the 1930s, but playing more like a tough '80s run-and-gun, Cuphead is an inventive, surprising game centred on a number of boss battles that need to be studied and replayed to overcome.

To celebrate the launch of racing simulation game Forza Motorsport 7, Xbox Australia is today taking the wraps off limited edition "gamewear" that "offers gamers unparalleled coziness and functionality as they hit the virtual track".

There are few better things in video games than a satisfying upgrade loop. A new axe that chops trees twice as fast as your old axe — or a jetpack that makes you realise you've only experienced a fraction of the game world despite hours of exploration — can be incredibly rewarding, and it's this sensation that Steamworld Dig 2 does better than most.

Nidhogg 2 turned heads for all the wrong reasons when it was revealed this time last year, with the gracefully minimalist pixel graphics of the original sword-fighting party favourite replaced by a gross and chunky style that looks like something from a '90s cartoon.

It's not every day Nintendo hands the keys to its most famous and bankable franchise to an outside publisher, but when the result is as wacky and fun as Ubisoft's Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, it's enough to make you wish the Japanese gaming giant did it more often.